PREDATORS

(director: David Osit; cinematographer: David Osit; editors: David Osit, Nicolas Norgaard Staffolani; music: Tim Hecker; cast: Chris Hansen, Dani Jayden; Runtime: 96; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Jamie Goncalves, Kellen Quinn; Rosewater Pictures; 2025)

“An uneasy but not too entertaining watch.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Documentarian David Osit is the editor making his auspicious feature film debut.

Osit’s film is about the reality TV show To Catch A Predator, hosted by Chris Hansen. It ran on NBC from 2004-2007 and was focused on catching pedophiles and exposing them on national television.

Now 17 years after it went off the air, the program’s ethics are being questioned. Osit reveals he was an avid viewer because as a child he was a sex victim, and wanted to see if he can learn more about the thought process of the predators.

It makes for an uneasy but not too entertaining watch, as it covers personal matters that are hard to get across in public.

Osit films it in three segments.

In the first segment, named Predators, the filmmaker uses raw footage from the show, along with emotional interviews with the former 18 year-old target decoys, who talk about the power being a decoy gave them, how it became a game and ultimately on the emotional toll it took on them. This led to the decoys having ethical doubts about what they did.

The film turns when Hansen is asking the predators why do such a terrible thing, especially to a child, as he asks: “Help me understand.” But the program just asked without caring about the response.

In the second segment, we’re introduced to one of the many online content creators who’ve decided to take up Hansen’s methods. It shows how things go from being a public service vehicle to a rating’s savvy entertainment program.

In the third part the filmmaker has a sit-down with Chris Hansen and vents all the grievances about the series. But the guarded Hansen only gives him PR responses that bring the documentary no closer to reaching any truths about that questionable program. The pic ends on a deflating note through no fault of the filmmaker.

As far as an investigative journalism type of program goes, there’s probably no other reality crime show show this impactful. The documentary does a fair job pointing out the program’s hits and misses, but is limited in what it uncovers.

It played at the Sundance Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 3/9/2025  GRADE: B
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